According to Deadline.com JJ Abrams mentioned at the 5th annual Produced By Conference that "Most likely we are going to be moving to London at the end of the year for the Star Wars movie." This sets up an early 2014 start, with an enormous amount of work to accomplish to maintain a 2015 release date. My guess is we'll see a fall or Christmas release for Star Wars Episode VII.

Abrams also mentioned that filming in the UK "drives me insane," as he favors filming in L.A. However the location was already decided by Disney before he was brought on board to direct.

UPDATE: The Hollywood Reporter brings us a comment from Abrams about the balance between creating new Star Wars content and incorporating existing material -- including the Expanded Universe. Said Abrams, "It is so massive and so important to people. I think the key to moving forward on something like this is honoring but not revering what came before."